A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Down; Biden Unveils $1.9 Trillion Covid-19 Relief Plan

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade as President-elect Joe Biden announced a $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package, which also includes additional $1,400 checks for Americans. Investors are awaiting earnings reports from JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) and Citigroup (NYSE: C).

Data on retail sales for December, Producer Price Index for December and Empire State manufacturing index for January will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on industrial production for December will be released at 9:15 a.m. ET, while data on business inventories for November and the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index for January will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari is set to speak at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 87 points to 30,822.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded fell 11 points to 3,780.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 17.25 points to 12,883.75.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 23,313,100 with around 388,690 deaths. India reported a total of at least 10,527,680 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 8,324,290 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 1.3% to trade at $55.71 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.9% to trade at $53.07 a barrel. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.4% and STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 0.5%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 0.7%, German DAX 30 declined 0.3% while London's FTSE 100 fell 0.7%. Britain's economy contracted by 8.9% year-over-year in November, while trade deficit increased to GBP 5 billion in November. The country’s construction output fell 1.4% year-over-year, while manufacturing production dropped 3.8% year-on-year in November. Spain's consumer prices declined 0.5% year-over-year in December.

Asian markets traded mixed today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 0.62%, China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.01%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.27% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 1.2%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.1%. China’s new home prices climbed 3.8 percent year-on-year during December

Broker Recommendation

KeyBanc downgraded Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE: AXTA) from Overweight to Sector Weight..

Axalta Coating shares fell 1% to close at $30.03 on Thursday.

Check out other major ratings here

Breaking News

• SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) pre-announced results for its fourth quarter on Thursday, with operating profit rising 26% year-over-year to €2.65 billion. However, revenue dropped 6% to 7.54 billion euros. The company said it expects FY21 non-IFRS cloud revenue of €9.1 billion to €9.5 billion.
• The outgoing President Donald Trump’s administration continues to add pressure on China, adding China’s Xiaomi Corp (OTC: XIACF) and CNOOC Ltd (NYSE: CEO) to blacklisted firms, Bloomberg reported.
• Progress Software Corp (NASDAQ: PRGS) reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter, but issued weak forecast for the current quarter.
• Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA) is planning to test the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccine booster shots a year after initial doses of the vaccine have been administered to an individual, CNBC reported.